Damian is a biogeochemical oceanographer whose research primarily focuses on marine nitrogen cycling. Using various methods, including natural abundance isotope measurements and 15N tracer techniques, he investigates how environmental conditions impact the production rates and pathways of different nitrogen cycling processes. Damian’s recent work has focused on extreme oxygen minimum zones (e.g., eastern tropical South Pacific and low oxygen eddies in the eastern tropical North Atlantic) in order to better understand the oxygen thresholds which 1) induce substantial increases in the production of the atmospheric warming and ozone-destroying gas nitrous oxide, and 2) cause shifts in the predominant nitrous oxide production pathways. Additional work includes investigations of phytoplankton dynamics, including ‘new’ vs. ‘regenerated’ production, and nitrification.
Damian also operates an eddy covariance system on the R/V Atlantic Explorer to directly measure air-sea gas exchange with a goal towards understanding how various biogeochemical and physical processes impact gas fluxes across the air-sea interface.
Damian completed his PhD at the University of Victoria, Canada during which time he made a number of trips to BIOS for his research and as part of the Ocean Flux Program time-series study in the Sargasso Sea. Prior to joining BIOS he was a postdoctoral scholar and research scientist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany.
Research Interests:
Nitrogen cycling processes; how different environmental conditions impact new vs. regenerated primary production and nitrification; implications of euphotic zone nitrification for estimates of new production and carbon export via the biological pump; extreme oxygen minimum zones; field studies to understand how different phytoplankton groups may respond to potential changes in marine environmental conditions; air-sea exchange of climate relevant gases.
Educational Background:
University of Victoria, Canada (2007-2012)
-PhD (Biogeochemical Oceanography)
University of Victoria, Canada (2005-2007)
-MSc (Biogeochemical Oceanography
University of Tasmania, Australia (2000-2004)
-BSc Honors
Selected Publications:
Grundle, D., C.R. Loescher, G. Krahmann, M.A. Altabet, H.W. Bange, J. Karstensen and B. Fiedler (2017). Low oxygen eddies in the eastern tropical North Atlantic: Implications for N2O cycling. Scientific Reports 7: 4806. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04745-y
Karstensen, J., F. Schutte, A. Pietri, G. Krahmann, B. Fiedler, D. Grundle, H. Hauss, A. Koertzinger, C.R. Loescher, P. Testor, N. Vieira and M. Visbeck (2017). Upwelling and isolation in oxygen-depleted anticyclonic modewater eddies and implications for nitrate cycling. Biogeosciences 14: 2167-2181. doi: 10.5194/bg-14-2167-2017.
Stramma, L., T. Fischer, D.S. Grundle, G. Krahmann, H.W. Bange and C. Marandino (2016). Observed El Niño conditions in the eastern tropical Pacific in October 2015. Ocean Science, 12: 861-873.
Fiedler, B, D. Grundle, F. Schütte, K. Karstensen, C.R. Löscher, H. Hauss, H. Wagner, A. Loginova, R. Kiko, P. Silva and A. Körtzinger (2016). Oxygen utilization and downward carbon flux in an oxygen-depleted eddy in the eastern tropical North Atlantic. Biogeosciences 13: 5633-5647.
Goericke, R., S.J. Bograd and D.S. Grundle (2014). Denitrification and flushing of the Santa Barbara Basin bottom waters. Deep-Sea Research II, http://dx.doi.org/19.1016/j.dsr2.2014.07.012.
Grundle, D.S., S.K. Juniper and K.E. Giesbrecht (2013). Euphotic zone nitrification in the N.E. subarctic Pacific: Implications for measurements of new production. Marine Chemistry 155: 113-123.
Grundle, D.S., R. Maranger and S.K. Juniper (2012). Upper water column nitrous oxide distributions in the NE subarctic Pacific. Atmosphere-Ocean 50: 475-486.
Grundle, D.S. and S.K. Juniper (2011). Nitrification rates from the lower euphotic zone to the sub-oxic waters of a highly productive British Columbia fjord. Marine Chemistry 126: 173-181.
Hamme, R.C., P.W. Webley, W.R. Crawford, F.A. Whitney, M.D. DeGrandpre, S.R. Emerson, C.C. Eriksen, K.E: Giesbrecht, J.F.R. Gower, M.T. Kavanaugh, M.A. Peña, C.L. Sabine, S.D. Batten, L.A. Coogan, D.S. Grundle and D. Lockwood (2010). Volcanic ash fuels anomalous plankton bloom in the subarctic Northeast Pacific. Geophysical Research Letters 37: L19604.
Grundle, D.S., D.A. Timothy and D.E. Varela (2009). Variations of phytoplankton productivity and biomass over an annual cycle in Saanich Inlet, a British Columbia fjord. Continental Shelf Research 29: 2257-2269.